How to deal with a client requiring IE8 Comatablity

Good morning!
Wanted some other designer/developer feedback on my issue.

Been working on a long-drawn out website where it took a year for the client to get their content together (they wouldn’t outsource it).

Now that we’re done, we were going to test it and found that the theme used doesn’t work on IE8. I understand that this is an old browser, but the agency that is my client is large, not up to date, and it’s not financially feasible for them to re-license all of their computers (they’re using a version of Windows that won’t allow for them to update to IE9 or 10).

I didn’t specify backwards compatibility in my contract.

Now we have a meeting to discuss:
1. What exactly will overhauling the website entail?

2. Cost/Considerations of Overhauling the Website

a. How long will it take?

b. What tech support, if any will be needed from GCCSA?

3. Compatibility with Internet Explorer 8

a. How will that effect compatibility with Explorer 9 and 10? Or other browsers?

quitenicestuff said
Sometimes it’s best to just cut your losses and move onto something new
Although saying that, requesting IE8 compatibility is not that unreasonable. But if it’s not in the contract then you don’t need to do it.

Thanks for the input. I agree. If this weren’t A) a very important relationship to me (we’ve known each other for a long time and they are also a client of my husbands in another capacity). and There is large sum of money due for the balance, which frankly, I’ve already earned and don’t just want to charge off.

As general practice I make all the websites I make work on IE7, obviously the best “stuff” is on chrome but it needs to look acceptable in IE7, If you haven’t put in any fallbacks as you were going along it could work out as very time consuming issue.

There isn’t a lot of things you can do in this issue, you should have either said what browsers it will work in or used fallbacks.

You can either say I’ll do it for free, No I can’t do it, No I can’t do it without more money

is is Really that much work to make it IE8 compatible? I’d think some minor css updates would be needed; I’d add no more than a 20% surchage to add enhanced compatibility with IE8, if that wasn’t in the scope of initial agreement, plus have a yearly upgrade plan so they can pay you to update it for future IE versions as well—otherwise they’l lalways be whining when it’s not compatible with the latest browser version.

that should’ve been part of initial agreement, is “I guarantee it’ll work up throuhg IE 7 (or whatever), but there’s additional costs for upgrading to new browser versions”

Thanks ya’ll. Disclaimer—I’m a designer, not a coder. Hence, why I chose a theme that stated it was IE8 compatible so I wouldn’t have to worry about it. Any of you all capable of troubleshooting for me and adding and css required? Email me with rates. arobertson@houmedia.com Thanks!

houmedia said
Good morning!
Wanted some other designer/developer feedback on my issue.

Been working on a long-drawn out website where it took a year for the client to get their content together (they wouldn’t outsource it).

Now that we’re done, we were going to test it and found that the theme used doesn’t work on IE8. I understand that this is an old browser, but the agency that is my client is large, not up to date, and it’s not financially feasible for them to re-license all of their computers (they’re using a version of Windows that won’t allow for them to update to IE9 or 10).

If re-licensing/updating is an issue, wouldn’t it be even easier to just install Chrome Frame on IE8?